Optimal Runner Height

6'4" and full of muscle.

5'11" you almost made it

im 5'10 but i think the best running height is a little shorter, bekele and gebrselassie are both 5'4 - 5'5

Rose is correct look at the fastest man in the world (6'6") and then David Rudisha (6'4").

We'd need to break it down by sprints, mid-distance, and distance. Each has it's own optimum. Optimal height for speed appears inversely related to height.

Geb is 5'3" which is almost optimal height.

Jack Bacheler was 6'7" which is almost optimal height.

The height distribution of top runners in a given country is about the same as the rest of the population, so height appears not to really matter. In fact, if it's true that people evolved to run long distances (as many studies do suggest), then it would make sense that the average person is at about the optimal height.

With distance running, leg length is also worth looking at. If you're shorter and have longer legs, then you will be better off. Ex: Paul Tergat? I think this has been brought up before on another thread.

toujour wrote:

The height distribution of top runners in a given country is about the same as the rest of the population, so height appears not to really matter. In fact, if it's true that people evolved to run long distances (as many studies do suggest), then it would make sense that the average person is at about the optimal height.

Source?

Does anyone have a quality data set of the all-time top individuals per event? We could collectively fill in the heights and determine any trends.

1500m is a good middle of the road distance to figure this out.

Look at the top two ranked Americans from last year.

Andrew Wheating - 6'5"

Leonel Manzano - 5'5"

I think that tells you the whole story of optimal runner height right there.

Geb's not 5'3". Hes 1.65 meters which works out to 64.96 inches, or pretty much 5'5".

I would say mid size to shorter i.e. 5'3"-5'9" is better. Most of the greats are in this range.

Bekele

Geb

El G

Lagat

kipketer

I know there are examples out side of this range but it seems on average that smaller runners do better over all. I think the less weight you the less you have to carry with each step. Even a slender person of 6'4" has to carry a lot more bone, skin etc. that doesn't give them much help in running. It seems that as you go down in distance from the marathon to the 800 you find that average height of great runners goes up.

toro wrote:

1500m is a good middle of the road distance to figure this out.

Look at the top two ranked Americans from last year.

Andrew Wheating - 6'5"

Leonel Manzano - 5'5"

I think that tells you the whole story of optimal runner height right there.

I think that would tell us an anecdote, and little about optimal height.

some crazy runner guy wrote:

I would say mid size to shorter i.e. 5'3"-5'9" is better. Most of the greats are in this range.

That's because most of the greats come from Kenya and Ethiopia, where 5'3-5'9 IS the average height for reasons unrelated to running.

some crazy runner guy wrote:

I would say mid size to shorter i.e. 5'3"-5'9" is better. Most of the greats are in this range.

toujour wrote:

That's because most of the greats come from Kenya and Ethiopia, where 5'3-5'9 IS the average height for reasons unrelated to running.

You've determined the correlation vs causation?

There have been studies looking at distance medalists at the Olympics, which are dominated by guys in the 5-3 to 5-6 range.

5'10" wrote:

I was on Wikipedia (I love that site) and somehow ended up on the "Human Height" page. On this page, they talk about the optimal height for 19 various sport. I noticed track & field wasn't represented. What is the optimal height for a distance runner? I think it's letsrun's duty to come up with a Wikipedia entry for it. Let's crowdsource the crowdsourcing!

Forgot the link:

toujour wrote:

some crazy runner guy wrote:

I would say mid size to shorter i.e. 5'3"-5'9" is better. Most of the greats are in this range.

That's because most of the greats come from Kenya and Ethiopia, where 5'3-5'9 IS the average height for reasons unrelated to running.

So you are saying that the reason that Kenya and Ethiopia are so dominant in distance running has nothing to do with their average build?

5k-Marathon: 5'4-5'8

800-3000: 5'9-6'1

100-400: 5'10-6'4

Obviously there are a few outliers.